The Michigan Society of Fellows, under the auspices of the Rackham Graduate School, was established in 1970 with endowment grants from the Ford Foundation and the Horace H. and Mary Rackham Funds. Each year the Society selects four outstanding applicants for appointment to three-year fellowships in the social, physical, and life sciences, and in the professional schools.
In 2007 the Mellon Foundation awarded a grant to add four Mellon Fellows annually in the humanities, expanding the number of fellowships awarded each year from four to eight.
The newly appointed Postdoctoral Fellows join a unique interdisciplinary community composed of their peers as well as the Senior Fellows of the Society, who include many of the University’s leading scholars. Alumni Fellows of the Society have gone on to become distinguished scholars at institutions around the world. The Chair of the Society is Donald S. Lopez, Jr., Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan.
Each Fellow has a three-year appointment as Assistant Professor in an affiliated department of the University and a three-year appointment as a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Society of Fellows. This appointment is not tenure-track. The current annual stipend is $55,000. Fellows are eligible for participation in the University health, dental, and life insurance programs. Each fellow is expected to teach the equivalent of one academic year, i.e., a total of two terms during the period of the fellowship. Any subsequent appointment of a Fellow to a position at the University of Michigan would be subject to the rules governing new appointments.
Fellows are expected to be in residence in Ann Arbor for the academic years of appointment (September to May) and to participate in the activities of the Society of Fellows. Off-campus research leave during academic terms will be permitted only in rare cases, only for brief periods of time, and only upon written application to the Chair of the Society well in advance of the proposed leave. Any leave granted will count as part of the fellowship tenure.
Report on Scholarship
At the end of each fellowship year, Fellows are asked to submit a written report on their activities and accomplishments during the year.
The Society of Fellows is an interdisciplinary intellectual community in which the postdoctoral Fellows are joined by Senior Fellows to share their work in progress. Fellows are expected to participate in monthly colloquia, attend dinners of the Society, and to engage in conversation with other members about their intellectual interests. They participate in the annual evaluation of new applicants for the Fellowship, serve as evaluators for the Distinguished Dissertations Awards sponsored by the Rackham Graduate School, and act as mentors for graduate students completing their dissertations.
Fellowship Application
The 2015 application will be available July 7. Questions may be submitted to society.of.fellows@umich.edu.
The Society invites applications from qualified candidates who are at the beginning of their academic careers, having received the Ph.D. or comparable professional or artistic degree between June 1, 2013 and September 1, 2016. Applications from degree candidates and recipients of the Ph.D. from the University of Michigan will not be considered. Non-US citizens may apply.
Application guidelines
http://societyoffellows.umich.edu/the-fellowship/application-guidelines/
Policies/
http://societyoffellows.umich.edu/the-fellowship/policies/
Helpful-information
http://societyoffellows.umich.edu/the-fellowship/helpful-information
The Michigan Society of Fellows, under the auspices of the Rackham Graduate School, was established in 1970 with endowment grants from the Ford Foundation and the Horace H. and Mary Rackham Funds. Each year the Society selects eight outstanding applicants for appointment to three-year fellowships in the social, physical, and life sciences, the humanities, and in the professional schools.
CONTACT
0540 Rackham Building
915 E. Washington Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1070
Phone: (734) 763-1259
E-mail: society.of.fellows@umich.edu
Application deadline: September 29, 2015, 1 PM (EDT).
Note to applicants: It is not necessary for you to obtain departmental sponsorship. The Society of Fellows will address that as part of our selection process.
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